Gavin Newsom faces another recall attempt. Will it do any better than 2021?

Here we go again: Conservative activists who worked on the failed recall of Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021 have launched another attempt, arguing that conditions in California only worsened in the two-and-a-half years since then as Newsom’s attention shifted to national politics.

Rescue California, one of the main political committees behind the 2021 recall, announced today that it was pursuing a campaign to remove Newsom from the governor’s office before he terms out in early 2027.

“We’ve got to do it again, because he’s a better governor when he’s under a microscope,” Anne Dunsmore, a fundraiser and campaign manager for Rescue California, told CalMatters. “We cannot do this trajectory for three more years.”

Newsom defeated the 2021 recall, which was fueled by anger over his response to the coronavirus pandemic, by nearly 24 percentage points. Then he won a second term a year later by almost the same margin, suggesting overwhelmingly liberal California voters have little appetite to toss the governor.